Reboot American Families, Small Towns, Rural Areas

In The American Conservative, Samuel Hammond makes the case that industrial policy aimed at reviving America’s small towns and rural areas is the right path for America. Hammond suggests that pivoting the economy away from the few cities drawing in much of today’s business would be beneficial for the American family, and perhaps help them escape the two income trap. He writes (abridged):

Historically, the term for rebalancing an economy away from a half-dozen lucrative cities and professions is “industrial policy.” A scary concept in more laissez-faire circles, it’s time pro-family conservatives took the idea seriously.

Policies aimed at reviving meaningful, well-paid work in rural regions and smaller cities would create the kind of jobs and in the kind of places that are most conducive to family life. A more diversified economy would simultaneously lessen the demand surge in today’s magnet cities and expand labor market opportunities for those most likely to be net losers in the upper class’s place-based bidding war.

Investing in struggling regions while creating new career pathways for working-class households may seem orthogonal to traditional notions of family policy. Yet the evidence suggests that the two are intimately related. Just as industrial policy is key to helping developing countries escape the middle-income trap, so too will it help the United States escape the two-income trap.

You can get started on escaping the two income trap by finding the right place for you in America. There are states where productivity and entrepreneurialism are rewarded with low income and corporate tax rates, and few infringements on residents’ freedoms. My Liberty & Freedom Map is the one-stop solution to choosing the right destination for your personal and financial safety. States with low taxes, the right to work, and strong protections for your Second Amendment rights headed by politicians with strong NRA grades are inherently better for you, your family, and your business. Nearly 1,000 people move from Blue States to Red States each day. They’re looking for opportunity beyond the borders of the progressive, oppressive, havens of high taxation and gun confiscation. Businesses are setting up shop in havens of worker freedom like South Carolina and Texas, where no one is forced to join a union to get a job.

Explore the Liberty & Freedom Map, and find your place in America today!
Click on each state for more info.

National Unemployment Rate: 3.7%

Federalism, as protected by the 10th Amendment, is what allows the states the ability to experiment, in order to attract the best and brightest. Learn more about federalism in America from my post “Let the Confederate States Show the Way.”